Chapter 15
Bellamy finds Murphy in the kitchen waiting for him. He grabs a few pieces of meat and bread before following Murphy down to the basement to see Roan. When they find him, he's asleep at the table with open books scattered everywhere. Murphy gently shakes him awake causing him to knock some papers on the floor. Bellamy picks them up and hands them to him but waits until he's fully awake before he says anything about his dream or The Key.
"You found anything yet?" Murphy asks sitting the plate down beside Roan.
"Yes and no. There's some useful stuff but most of its dated before the purge since both people and information were destroyed during it. The problem is that the stuff before is way before my time and in a language I'm not familiar with. It's some language that's only referred to as..."
"The language of the Temple of Elders." Bellamy says causing Roan to look at him in confusion and suspicion.
"How did you..." Roan begins but Murphy cuts him off.
"He had a dream about The Key again."
Now it was Bellamy's turn to be confused and suspicious.
"How did you..."
"I don't know, I just do." Murphy says looking confused and worried at the same time.
"We'll deal with that later, right now I wanna know about your dream." Roan says steering the conversation back to the topic at hand.
"The Key and A.L.I.E. are one and the same. The person who was A.L.I.E. ceased to exist centuries ago because her body is it's host and it's looking for a new one. The purge was instituted to rid the world of the only thing that could stop it, us." Bellamy says gesturing between him and Murphy.
"But if that was the case than why keep Murphy alive? He's had shadow magic since he was young and it makes no sense to keep the one thing left that could stop you alive." Roan states.
"It makes perfect sense especially if that one person is..."
"It's new host. I'm what it wants, aren't I? The Key needs me, my body because her's is inferior and mine isn't. I'm The Key's key." Murphy says in both disbelief and understanding as he plops down in the chair beside Roan.
Roan immediately begins rummaging through the pile of papers Bellamy handed him earlier repeating the phrase The Key's key over and over until he finds the one he's looking for. He scans it quickly but what little hope there was on his face at finding the page disappears as he does so and he slams his fist down on the table causing Murphy to jump.
"The Key's key was familiar but the information is in that language again. My mom always talked about the language of the elders and how I should learn it but I was more interested in other things. Now I wish I'd listened to her when she said it might come in handy one day. She was the only one left alive who could read it and now there's no one. The language is lost and so is any information we could of gotten from it."
"Maybe not. Can I see that paper? There maybe a way to translate it but it's risky and you're not gonna like it."
"What is it?"
"First I need to tell you both something and I need you to listen without saying a word, okay?"
They both nod and Bellamy relays the story that Becca had told him back to them. When he's finished he remains silent, giving them ample time to digest the information he'd just given them.
Roan begins asking Bellamy questions but Murphy sits there in silence staring at the floor. Bellamy wasn't even sure he was hearing the conversation that him and Roan were having or what their plan was until he says something.
"No. We can't do that. We can't just hand this information over to her. I don't care what you say or feel about her it doesn't make sense. Something is off and I'd rather be in the dark than give The Key information that could help her." Murphy says and there's something about the look in his eyes that has Bellamy wondering if there's something he isn't saying.
"He may have a point. All of this is unknown territory for all of us and I'd rather have no advantage than give something that wants to kill us a leg up." Roan concedes.
Bellamy is reluctant to agree but he understands where both of them are coming from so him and Roan discuss other options while Murphy sits quietly staring at Roan's notes.They hear him in the background rifling through the papers and then there's silence. Bellamy stops mid sentence and looks at Murphy who is looking at a piece of paper in his hand with wide eyes. Before Bellamy can ask him what's wrong, Murphy blots up the stairs without a second thought. Roan and Bellamy look at each other confused before they too head up the stairs after him.
They find him in his room throwing things on the floor and moving things around like he's frantically trying to find something. He sits on the bed looking defeated with his head in his hands and Bellamy is about to sit beside him to offer some form of comfort when Murphy suddenly stands up and runs to a room at the end of the hall. Bellamy is about to follow him but Roan stops him.
"That was Mbege's room. No one's been in it since his death and I doubt he'd want you following him."
Bellamy give him a slight head nod and they both stand in the hallway waiting for Murphy to come out. When he doesn't come out immediately Roan heads back downstairs to grab his papers and the plate of food Murphy left him while Bellamy sits against the wall just outside Mbege's room.
Murphy sits on the bed with the book in his hands and looks around the room for the first time in over a year. He had closed the door and refused to go anywhere near it when he'd died and now that he was here again all the memories came flooding back to him. He tired to hold back the rush of emotions that engulfed him but he couldn't and as the tears began to fall he curled up on Mbege's bed and let them.
Bellamy can hear the soft sniffling and whimpers of Murphy crying through the cracked door but is unsure if he should enter the room or not. When the sounds in the room change from crying to stuff being thrown and broken, he decides it's time to go in the room.
He finds Murphy on his knees with bloody knuckles and tear soaked face before a broken picture of Murphy and Mbege laughing. Bellamy tentatively touches Murphy's shoulder causing him to pull away violently, spinning around to punch him in the face.
"Fuck Murph! What the hell?" Bellamy shouts moving his jaw to make sure there's no permanent damage.
"Go the fuck away, Bellamy!" Murphy yells pushing him away.
"No! Not until you calm the hell down."
"Get out!"
"No!"
"God Dammit Bellamy, if you don't fucking leave I'm..."
"You'll what? Huh? What are you gonna do, Murphy? Huh? What?" Bellamy taunts cutting Murphy off.
"I'm warning you Bellamy, get out!"
"No. You want me to get out you're gonna have to make me cause I'm not leaving."
Murphy stays quiet and Bellamy knows he probably shouldn't push but he does anyways.
"What's wrong Murphy? You getting angry? Good, now do something about it!"
Shadows instantly erupt from Murphy like a volcano and envelop the entire room. Bellamy can hear Roan and Lincoln trying to get in but Murphy isn't letting them through. The shadows are circling Bellamy but they aren't touching him yet. It's almost like they're unsure of what they want to do.
"What are you gonna do John?" Bellamy asks quietly.
The shadows slowly begin to recede back into Murphy and before the shadows are completely gone Murphy collapses to his knees.
"I miss him, Bellamy. So fucking much."
Bellamy doesn't hesitate or even think about what he's doing he just kneels in front of Murphy and wraps his arms around him, rubbing his back as Murphy cries into his shoulder. The door opens but when Roan sees the scene before him he closes the door leaving them alone to work things out.
Neither of them speak for what seems like hours but was probably only a few minutes. Murphy had stopped crying but hadn't pushed Bellamy away yet and he decided to continue rubbing his back until he did. However it never happened. Instead Murphy slowly pulls away from him to sit on the floor in front of the bed. Bellamy sits beside him and waits patiently for Murphy to say something.